


WinterIron 82 - Invitation

by tisfan



Series: Stocking Stuffers [13]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Radio, Blogger!Bucky, Blogging, DJ!Tony, M/M, Pre-Slash, Shout-out to my Ex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-14 08:37:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13003947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tisfan/pseuds/tisfan
Summary: here's the songTony's playing





	WinterIron 82 - Invitation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [justanotherpipedream](https://archiveofourown.org/users/justanotherpipedream/gifts).



“Hey, is this Bucky Barnes, from _Bucky’s Broken-heart Blog_?” the voice on the phone was chipper, excited, and spoke as if the guy had drunk entirely too many venti frappes in a row.

Bucky held his cell phone away from his ear for a moment to glare at the screen. What the hell? Okay, so his phone number technically was listed in the bio section of his blog, but who the fuck ever looked at that, and for that matter, why the hell was someone calling him about his blog? Most people who bothered to call him were bill collectors and his mom.

“Yes?” Bucky said.

“You sound uncertain,” the man said. “You answer ‘how to get over your ex’ letters on the internet?”

“Yes,” Bucky said, again. That much was true, he did do that. It had started as a joke, really, him screaming into the void about his journey to get over Alexander Pierce, and then later making dark humor jokes about his ex, and then later, answering self-help sort of questions from other people with similar problems.

He’d ended up being able to monetize bitching about Alex in a public forum, and somehow, that had ended up being the best revenge ever.

“This is Tony Stark, DJ with WBAC, the Wayback FM, 98.3 on your dial for your smiles,” the man said, “and I’d love to have you come in for an interview on our morning show, for the local commute… we’d compensate you for your time, of course.”

Bucky held the phone out again, stared blankly. “Did I get an invitation to do a radio show? Is that what this is?” Did people even listen to the radio anymore? Bucky was a Pandora subscriber, and his friend Steve was constantly arguing that Spotify was better if you liked Indie bands. (Bucky didn’t, really. He liked music that he was familiar with, so he could just tune it into the background and sing, instead of having to look up lyrics online -- and while he was thinking about it, he felt bad for people who used to listen to the radio before the internet, and maybe he should be jotting these things down, because music was a big thing in both relationships and post-relationships, and there were certain songs he’d listened to after Alex proved himself to be a cheating bastard of a boyfriend… and maybe he should pay attention, because the guy on the phone was asking if the call had been dropped.)

“Sorry,” Bucky said. He wasn’t, really. Who the hell talked on the phone these days, either? “I got lost in my own thoughts.”

“Oh, well, that happens to the best of us. Anyway, come on down to the studio -- is Wednesday two weeks from tomorrow too early --” pause “--great, we’ll do that, Wednesday at 6am, and we’ll work you in. Compensation, I said that, right? Write you a check and feed you donuts. Great! See you then!”

Bucky sighed. Apparently he was doing a radio interview. At least he probably didn’t have to dress up.

***

Turned out that Tony Stark, the morning DJ, was actually pretty funny, even if Bucky resented the fuck out of having to get up early in the morning to listen to the show. (What the fuck even was morning? He was a blogger for fuck’s sake. He didn’t _do_ mornings!) He and his co-host, Pepper Potts, did a rapid patter that was entertaining and slick. And, a point in the station’s favor; they didn’t do the typical dumb-guy, smart-girl routine. In the days that Bucky managed to wake up enough to listen to the show, Pepper definitely came across as the sane host, and Tony was the crazy guy who was up for anything, but neither of them was condescending to the other, even in jest.

Tony did have a group of excitable fans that called themselves the Tony Stark Defense Squad; every day that Bucky listened, at least one of them called in to the show, usually to gush about an event Tony had attended, or how sweet, smart, and brave Tony was. There was some history there that Bucky wasn’t getting, obviously.

And there were no punch-down jokes, which Bucky appreciated. He’d had his entire sexuality made out as a punchline for a lot of his life, so not hearing any cracks on women, gays, people of color, etc, made him pretty happy. (Well, as happy as he could be at seven in the damn morning. Tony better have quality donuts. And coffee.)

By the time Bucky was ready to go on the show, he had to admit, he kinda had a little bitty crush on Tony Stark. Which was entirely doomed, he knew that. Everyone had heard the phrase “a face for radio” and Tony probably didn’t look anything like what Bucky was imagining. And, of course, the real Tony probably wasn’t much like radio Tony, even like Bucky wasn’t entirely like his blog persona.

The one who had his life together and who dared to give advice as if he was qualified for it. But whenever his readers wrote to tell him how much just having someone that listened, and cared, about their heartbreak, helped them, he couldn’t give it up. No matter how much of a faker he felt he was.

He arrived at the station, day of the interview, a little early. He wouldn’t confess under threat of torture that he’d mapped out his route twice on google maps, and had made the drive once, just to make sure. Bucky didn’t usually… go places. He had his routine down that included getting a local service to deliver his groceries (he bought way less Twinkies if he didn’t walk past the display, not to mention chips and string cheese.) and going out maybe twice a month to anyplace that wasn’t Clint’s house, or Steve’s place, or sometimes he did things with Nat when she decided he needed some sort of cultural exposure, but she always drove for that.

“Hey,” Bucky said to the receptionist, a skinny kid with a large nametag that read _Peter._ “I’m James Barnes, I’m here for--”

“Yeah, yeah, Mr. Barnes, I know, I’ve been waiting for you, thank God you’re here, Mr. Stark’s been climbing the walls, well, you know, not _literally_ climbing the walls, but… let’s get you down to the white room and we’ll do some quick publicity shots while you’re still fresh. Mr. Stark tends to frazzle people, so just-- yeah, this way, come on…”

Peter led Bucky down the hall to a room with a huge light-box. A woman with a comb and a makeup kit did a few quick adjustments before Peter shooed her away with a “photoshop is a thing!” admonishment. He took a few dozen pictures, headshots, and dynamic poses and then had Bucky jump into the air a few times to get “action” shots.

Bucky was panting for breath and a little sweaty by the time Peter directed him to Studio Four. Of course. He was absolutely not at his best when he was introduced to the most beautiful man Bucky had ever seen.

Why the hell was this guy a radio disc jockey? He could have been a movie star. Perfect face, gorgeous hair, adorable little goatee. And oh, holy fuck, when he turned around to introduce Bucky to the co-host, Pepper, Bucky’s gaze was drawn down to the most beautiful ass in history. Like, there should be a monument to that backside.

Pepper, when she shook Bucky’s hand, smiled, her eyebrows up, as if she knew exactly what Bucky was thinking. And didn’t exactly disapprove.

“Welcome to the morning show,” she said. “Sit down, I’ll get you a donut. Here, look over this list, Tony’s selected a bunch of breakup songs to play around your interview, let me know if any of them are triggering for you, and I’ll strike it off the list. We’ll be on a five minute delay during the interview, so if there’s a question you’re uncomfortable with, or something you don’t want to talk about, just say so, and we’ll delete that. We’re here to promote you, and entertain our listeners, not make anyone unhappy.”

“Does everyone around here drink high octane?” Bucky whined, just a little bit plaintive. There was way too much awake and go-go-go for this early in the morning.

“Yes, yes, we do. Coffee is a wonderful thing, divine invention and all that,” Tony said. He pressed a cup into Bucky’s hand. “And here’s yours. I don’t know how you like it, but we’ve got all the fixings back here. And you’ll sit there; chocolate donut okay? Of course it is, what kind of heathen doesn’t like chocolate, well, aside from Pep, but she’s every sort of heathen, so that answers that question.”

“Yeah, okay, chocolate, yeah, that’s… you’re fine, I’m--”

Tony smirked. “I know I’m fine,” he said, winking. “You’re not so bad yourself. Next time, warn a guy, like wow. I was expecting a little more basement dweller, little less underwear model.”

“Tony,” Pepper said, shoving her co-host playfully. “Do not flirt with him.”

Tony pouted, giving Pepper, and then Bucky, an enormous set of brown bambi eyes. Bucky could absolutely have drowned in those eyes. “Why not? He’s cute. I want one.”

“Well, you can’t have one,” Pepper said, firmly. “He’s a guest, stop bothering him.”

“I don’t get an opinion, here?” Bucky asked. He couldn’t help grinning. It’d been a while since anyone flirted with him at all, much less someone as knock-out gorgeous.

“See? See, it’s fine, we’re fine, come on, interview first, flirt later. Flirt during. Something. We’ll figure it out.”

Bucky nodded. “Yeah, okay. Flirt during. That’ll be good. I’m off my game here, so by all means, let’s get me all flustered during my first official live broadcast.”

Pepper laughed. “Okay, you’ll do great. And I’ll just… stay out of the way.”

Tony flicked a switch in the booth and Little Mix’s _Shoutout to my Ex_ came on. “Good lead in, don’t you think?”

“Sure,” Bucky said.

“Great. Sit down, get comfy, and we’ll get started,” Tony said.

 

**Author's Note:**

> [here's the song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFDzhKdrN9M) Tony's playing


End file.
